


having superpowers can be not so super when the girl you like doesn’t even know your name.

by colderthancold



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: also san baka brot3 ftw, kotori's also here but doesn't talk much, superpower au, there is a battle scene but nothing too specific
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-17 04:33:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13069224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colderthancold/pseuds/colderthancold
Summary: “Nicocchi’s superpower is being super useless.”Nico Yazawa can't believe everything can be so hard when having superpowers, especially asking someone out.





	having superpowers can be not so super when the girl you like doesn’t even know your name.

“Nicocchi’s superpower is being super useless.”

“Shut up, Nozomi.” Nico groaned. They had cleaning duty again and Nico wanted to run home as soon as she could and if Nozomi kept fooling around she wouldn’t be able to. She seemed to be quite cheerful today and Nico didn’t know if she liked that. Cleaning duty wasn’t that bad but when it came with Nozomi it seemed to be. It wasn’t like she hated her or anything (they had a weird friendship thing going on) but she couldn’t feel safe around her. She couldn’t trust mind-readers, it was against her nature.

“But it’s true.” Nozomi said, huge smile on her face. Nico looked at her with a frown and made Nozomi giggle.

“Come on, girls. We just need to get this done and then we can leave.” Eli said. Nozomi nodded and Nico sighed.

 “Yeah, but can’t you just use your power and get everything on place?” Nico asked. Eli shook her head with a solemn expression on her face.

“We can’t use our powers when we have cleaning duty, Nico, and there’s not much to do anymore. Just put some things on their respective places and—” Eli explained. Nico groaned.

“Then why do we have them?! This is so dumb.” She looked at Eli straight in the eyes. “You’ll let us use our powers and—” Eli looked away with a sigh.

“I’m not dumb, Nico. I won’t let you control me.” Eli said.

“‘Again’.” Nozomi added. “‘I won’t let you control me again’. That’s what Elichi meant to say.” Eli blushed and Nozomi giggled. Nico couldn’t help it and a smile creeped her face. She still remembered all the times Eli had fallen for her power and did everything she had been told to all thanks to her habit of making constant eye-contact, which was the only thing Nico’s power needed to work. Eye contact and a secure tone of voice.

“Nozomi!” Eli exclaimed with that one tone of voice she used to use when saying her friend’s name.

“I’m sorry, Elichi. I just couldn’t help but tease you a bit, after all I’ve teased Nicocchi.” Nozomi said. Nico snorted and Nozomi’s arm passed over her shoulders. They both looked at Eli and Eli sighed.

“You’re both helpless.” She didn’t sound mad. She sounded like she was avoiding a smile. Typical Eli. “Now let’s go home. Everything’s ready.” Eli said, so they started to head home.

“So, about Maki-chan…” Nozomi started. Nico stiffened. “How’s everything going, Nicocchi?” She asked. Nico looked away.

“Fine, I guess— not the way I wanted things to go but…” Eli and Nozomi looked at her with disbelief and Nico groaned. “She doesn’t even look at me. She avoids me like I’m some kind of disease. God she’s troublesome. Maybe she doesn’t even know I exist. What will I do if that happens, huh? I bet she thinks I’m so kind of loser.” Nico said. Eli smiled.

“Maki is like that. She just needs a bit more time when it comes to warming up to people. She may look cold or conceited because of that but she’s a good girl, I assure you.” Eli patted Nico’s back and Nico let out a sad laugh.

“A bit more time, huh? Sometimes… Sometimes I wish she could look at me in the eyes for just three seconds and I’d… I’d…” She couldn’t say it and let all the air she had in her lungs escape at once.

“You know it’s not right to use your power like that, Nicocchi.” Nozomi explained. “It’d just be worse as time goes on and…” Nico interrupted her.

“And she’d be angry at me for tricking her like that. I know. We’ve talked about this. But it’s hard. The dance is going to be in a week and I know I’m not the only girl that… Forget it. I’ll have to hang with Honoka and Rin. Again.” She said. Eli was about to say something when Nico started talking again. “No Ayase, I won’t go with you and Nozomi. Not since the last time.”

“Well, it seems like we have another mind-reader here.” Eli said.

“You’re just easy to read, Ayase. You think you aren’t but it’s a piece of cake to know what you’re thinking about all the time.” Eli looked at Nozomi for a second opinion on the matter and Nozomi nodded as she shrugged.

“Nicocchi’s right, Elichi. Sometimes I don’t need to read your mind to know what you’re thinking.” Eli blushed and they spent the rest of their walk talking about trivial stuff. Then Nico arrived home, said hi to her siblings and jumped to her bed. It was hard having superpowers. It sure was. It seemed like school was ten times harder for everyone and she couldn’t even use her superpower to get away with things. She had also been sorted to the lamest attribute (but she had gotten used to that and had grown to at least stand it) and only had one class that related to using her superpower (a class she was about to fail). And, of course, the girl she liked didn’t even know her name. Nico wondered how come all of those things happened even though she had a superpower.

 

“And then— kapow! Everything exploded! It was really crazy!” Honoka said. Rin chuckled. Nico took a sip from her drink and kept on spacing out. Honoka and Rin noticed she hadn’t said anything in a while and stared at her.

“Whaddya want, creeps?” Nico asked after a minute or two of being stared at. Honoka and Rin looked at each other and then at Nico.

“You’ve been real quiet today, Nico-chan, nya.” Rin said. Nico looked away.

“So what? At least I’m not like a 24/7 radio transmission kind of thing like you two.” She had sounded too rough and sighed. “That’s not bad, though. I’m just feeling kinda sick lately.” Nico said.

“It’s because of the dance right?” Honoka asked. Nico didn’t answer. “If that Maki-chan girl doesn’t want to go with you then you can stay with us!” Honoka used one of her arms to hug Rin and the other to give her a thumbs up. She had a huge smile on her face and even if sometimes Nico felt like hating them she loved those two girls deeply.

“Yeah, sounds nice being with you two nerds.” She messed with their hairs (she knew they liked that) and smiled. Maybe it was an smile attribute thing, being a nerd. Not that she cared, at least now.

“We’re not nerds, Nico-chan!” Honoka said. Nico smiled. A honest, heartfelt smile. Weird.

“You sure aren’t.” She said. And they fooled around for the rest of lunchtime and Nico was able to forget about Maki for like four minutes or so, that is until Maki walked next to them and looked at Nico with a face she couldn’t describe. Nico stiffened. She hated when she couldn’t decipher people’s expressions. The bell rang and they all headed back to class.

 

“And I started wondering, hey, Ayase could like, present us to each other, since you’re her mentor and all of that.” Nico was playing with a ball in the student council office and was about to throw it against the wall again when Eli made it float towards her hand. She squeezed it.

“Please stop playing around here, will you? I’m trying to concentrate.” She said while she started writing again. “And yes, I could do so. What if… Maybe I could present you two before the Battle, tomorrow. Then you’ll be able to show off your sick skills.” The last part was joke. Eli had always been amused by the expression ‘sick skills’, which was an expression Nico was quite fond of (all thanks to Honoka).

“Ha ha. Very funny, Ayase. But I’ll do so. I’ll really kick all of your asses, and Honoka and Rin will so too. They’ve been training an awful lot lately and you bet they’re the best around. After me. They’re the best around after me.” Nozomi giggled. Nico got closer to her.

“What’re you laughing about, Toujou?” Nozomi looked at her and Nico felt like she didn’t have to read her mind to know what she was thinking. She had been told she was as expressive as a cartoon, once. She didn’t know if that was good or bad, but in this kind of situation she felt like it was the worst thing ever.

“I remember when you were sorted to the smile attribute, Nicocchi. You were so mad it was even funny. Screaming around, hitting things, even kicking one or two chairs and getting hurt by them… You sure were angry about being sorted to the ‘most stupid and lamest attribute’, as you liked to say. It took you months to get used to it. But you seem to be happier about it now. And I think Honoka-chan and Rin-chan have been really helpful in some kind of way. Am I right?” Nico looked away.

“I guess. I kinda, uh, got used to it. Maybe. They’re idiots but…” Nico sighed. She hated that Nozomi made her be honest about her feelings. “I like them. A bit. At least I stand them, now.” Nozomi giggled and Nico couldn’t help but smile. “Damn it, Nozomi. You always make me say the most embarrassing stuff.”

“That’s what friends are for.” Nozomi answered. Nico sighed, smile still on her face.

“Yeah, I guess that’s what friends are for.”

 

Battles were events that happened three times each semester. The three attributes (Cool, Smile and Pure) fought against each other to test their abilities and powers. The winning attribute was the one that either caught the other attribute’s ball (which was on the center of their designated zone) or disqualified the other team (making everyone in the other team unable to use their powers, for example). It was Nico’s favorite moment of the year, even though she had never won one. She hadn’t even been near it. But this time she had a plan. More specifically Honoka, Rin and her had a plan. And she’d impress Nishikino for sure when she saw her battle. She wasn’t into bragging (she was into bragging) but she always assured she could knock anyone’s socks off when battling (which was another expression she had learnt from Honoka).

They were on the locker room and Nico was going on and on about how they were going to win when Eli knocked the door. It was a secret knock they had invented a while ago (Eli didn’t seem like it but she liked secret knocks, for some reason). Nico said she’d get it and opened. It was Eli, with Maki by her side. They were already dressed in the Cool attribute clothing, and it was, indeed, cool. All blue with some white stripes here and there. It was really nice and it made Nishikino look especially beautiful.

“Hey Ayase. Hey— what’s you name?” Nico thought her acting was great but Maki wasn’t even looking at her. Sigh.

“She’s Maki. She’s my apprentice along with Umi. Maki,” Eli called. Maki looked at her. She was playing with her hair. “She’s Nico Yazawa. She’s a good friend of mine since our first year.” Nico extended her hand and noticed Maki wasn’t wearing gloves. Weird. They shook hands for only a second— it seemed like Maki wasn’t into handshaking.

“A pleasure, Nishikino.” Nico said. “What’s your superpower?” She asked. It was the most usual question to ask around those places so it wasn’t like she was being weird or creepy or anything (or she tried to convince herself so). Maki looked away.

“None of your business.” She answered. Ouch, Nico thought. She is the troublesome princess type. She decided to turn to desperate measures since she didn’t want to lose her without even having her.

“Ya, okay. You’re the secretive type and that’s fine. I get it. I’m quite mysterious myself. But the thing is I’ve got a hella cool superpower and I love to show it off. Look.” And she looked at Eli. “Hey, Eli, why don’t you try slapping your face and then recite the alphabet backwards? Nishikino here wants to see you do so.” And before Maki could say anything or Eli could look somewhere else she had already slapped herself and recited all of the alphabet backwards. Nico was laughing in the end and she could have sworn she saw Maki chuckling. As for Eli, she couldn’t be angrier.

“Nico, what did we say about using our powers against the other?” Nico patted her back. She knew Eli felt like an idiot and she was going to buy her a chocolate bar or something for sure when they left school as an I’m-sorry-I-used-my-power-against-you-again present. But Eli nor Maki needed to know about that.

“I’m sorry, Ayase. I just wanted to show Nishikino how cool my superpower can be.” And now Nishikino was all serious again. Maybe it was due to Eli’s pouty face. Seeing your mentor with a pouty face (your serious, calm and collected mentor) could be quite a punch in the jaw, maybe. Nico had never been close with her mentor so she didn’t know how that felt.

“How childish, you mean.” Nico’s heart kind of broke in that second. Childish? But she had seen her laugh. It had to be Ayase’s dumb and pouty face. She was regretting thinking about buying her chocolate and considered making her hit herself again.

“We’ll see who’s the childish one in the battle when you cry for your parents, princess.” Those words escaped her mouth without warning. Maki seemed to be as offended as ever and they left. Eli gave her an apologetic look before doing so. Nico felt like a screw-up more than ever. There they went, her chances to date Nishikino. She hit the door as she closed it and Rin and Honoka looked at her. They were all set and Nico tried to smile.

“Was that Maki-chan?” Honoka asked. Nico helped her fix the position of her helmet. She didn’t want Honoka to break her nose again. The last time it cost them the victory.

“Yeah.” She said. Rin was tying her kicks. They were colorful and old. Rin said they were her lucky kicks. Honoka believed her and Nico tried to do so.

“And how was she? This is your first time talking to her, right, nya?” Rin asked. Nico sat down between the two of them.

“Yeah. She’s kind of an asshole, I think. Maybe. She’s a princess, and that’s for sure. We’ll see what she’s made of now.” Nico said. The bell rang. They had to go to their places.

“But you’re an asshole too, Nico-chan!” Rin said. She was smiling and Nico death-glared her. Rin gulped. “I meant you two could really get along, nya!” She was nervous and it showed; her voice was shaking when she said that. Nico and Honoka got closer to her. Nico tried not to squeeze her cheeks.

“Rin.” Nico said. Rin looked at her. Her eyes were bright as ever, even more than usual. “You—I know this is your first battle, but there’s no need to feel nervous, really. This won’t affect you in any way, even if you break a bone or two. Ask Honoka: This is just for fun, in the end. Idiots like Umi want them to seem like a big deal or something but they’re really nothing and also mean nothing. So try to have as much fun as possible and win. If we win, I’ll take you two out to eat whatever you want, even if my wallet ends up screaming.” Both Honoka and Rin cheered and Nico caught Rin staring at her lucky kicks after that. She was smiling and Nico smiled too. She just wanted those two dorks to have as much fun as possible. Their smiles were really something else.

“You two ready?” Nico asked, placing her helmet on her head. They both gave her a thumbs up and they high-fived. “Then let’s kick ass. And remember: if we lose, it was rigged.” And so, the battle started.

Nico’s plan consisted on having the Cool attribute’s ball as the grand-prize and get the Pure one as they struggled for the Cool one, that if things got hard. If the plan went smooth and sailing then they’d just get it after the Cool one. Everyone knew the hardest one to get was the Cool one, especially now that they had Umi, the time-traveler, on their side. Lucky them, though, as Nico, Honoka, and Rin were the most unpredictable people in the Smile attribute so they could easily fool her. Nico had discovered Umi’s weakness were surprises the last time they had had a Battle.

Their plan started with Honoka (who had super-strength) throwing Rin (who had super-speed) directly towards the Pure ball. As expected Kotori flew there and caught her. She was really strong and thanks to all her training her wings had become stronger as well. What she didn’t know was what Nico had prepared for her.

“Hey, Kotori-chan, why don’t you help us and fly Rin to the Cool zone? That’d be really nice from you.” And as Kotori always had her head in the clouds she forgot to look away from Nico’s eyes and did what she was told. First part of the plan: Complete. Now they just had to run towards the Cool ball and that’d be it. They were far-away from the Pure zone now so they didn’t have to be preoccupied of invisible Hanayo or Nozomi predicting their moves.

“You won’t do this, you two.” Eli got unsurprisingly competitive in Battles and she made both Nico and Honoka float. “You thought you’d get away with it just by enchanting Kotori, right? Then you must—” Nico decided to stop Eli’s monologue because she still wasn’t sure if she could control people at long-distance. She looked at Honoka.

“Remember what I told you! You’re heavy, Honoka. We both are. We must be rocks or something! The heaviest things on earth!” And even if it was the dumbest thing Nico had ever said it made effect. They made themselves heavier and Eli couldn’t keep her telekinesis on. What people thought about themselves and a few words were the only things Eli needed for her power to weaken; that kind of things were her only weakness. They fell and continued on running. They could see Rin almost reaching the ball.

“Maki, catch them!” Eli screaming, and there she came. Maki was literally burning. Her hair was fire and she had balls of fire in her hands. Nico could have sworn she saw her roar, expelling fire from her mouth. Scary.

“So that was your superpower. It’s kinda hot.” Nico said. Maki was so flustered she almost stopped being made of fire. Honoka laughed. Nico smiled. “We don’t have time for idiocies so bye-bye, hottie.” And Maki was sure flustered after that. Nico had embarrassed her and she couldn’t light her fire anymore. Nice. She was just a blushing angry girl now. Even if Maki’s superpower hadn’t been taken in count when planning their tactic they had still defeated her. Luck was on their side, just for once. Even if the tsunami girl almost drowned them as they ran and even if the girl with lots of arms almost kicked their asses she felt like they wouldn’t lose that time. Not again.

“Now, Rin! Do something unpredictable! Just, do so!” Rin had already reached Umi (who was the only one watching the ball in the near distance and not getting involved in the actual battle) and Rin tickled Kotori, who woke up from her day-dreaming and let her go. Rin ran towards Umi, looked at her, smiled, and kissed her on the lips. While everyone’s jaws reached the floor she blushed, giggled, and took the ball as happily as ever. The Cool team had been defeated for the first time in two years. Now they just had to get the Pure ball and if Nico’s calculations were right, they’d do in a heartbeat. She was about to run with Honoka and Rin towards the Pure zone when she felt someone taking her by the armpits and flying higher. Kotori.

“Kotori let me go in this mere instant! I’ll—” She was about to look at her in the eyes and say that again when she noticed she was wearing dark shades, and that they had a band that went around her head so they wouldn’t fall nor be taken off. Where had she gotten those from? Just two minutes had passed since she had let Rin go.

“It was my idea, Nicocchi!” She felt Nozomi scream from near the ball. Kotori must’ve rushed to the Pure zone when Rin was kissing Umi. And about them, she didn’t see Honoka nor Rin anywhere near. “We had them prepared if you got out of hand!” Nozomi tapped her shades and smiled. They sure were more prepared, now.

“I see you’ve been training.” Nico said. She started moving and tried to make Kotori let go. She was also trying to find either Honoka or Rin, but it seemed like they were lost. From up where she was she could see what else was happening: The smile zone was a disaster (which wasn’t a surprise) and the Cool zone was deserted (everyone left fast due to embarrassment, she supposed). As for the Pure zone, it was a real battle. It seemed like the girls had really been training and decided to be actual competition and not just a bunch of wallflowers. “I’m kinda proud of you all.” She said. Kotori smiled.

“Well thank you, Nico-chan. We’re proud of you too. At least they haven’t knocked you out yet like last year. And the year before that.” And Nico decided not to get mad nor ask how come Kotori knew about the time she had been knocked out in her first year, as she already knew the answer: Nozomi.

Kotori kept on flying near the ball and Nico tried to guess where Hanayo was. She probably had done something to Honoka or Rin, like tickle the back of their knees or something. She wasn’t sure how many things you could do when being invisible. Then she saw something off. There was a group of Pure girls walking towards the Smile ball, and an empty space in the middle of them. It had to be Hanayo. They’d scatter when near the ball and cause trouble, which meant distraction. Then Hanayo would go where the ball, take it and win.

“Hey! They’re— Hanayo’s there, with those girls! Catch her!” Nico screamed. Everyone looked at her like she was an idiot or something.

“But she’s invisible, Nico-chan!” Honoka said. She was fighting against three or four pure girls all by herself.

“Then Rin will have to run around them! Rin!” Nico’s brain was working better than usual and she felt smart. Rin appeared out of nowhere (she was somewhere under her before, apparently) and started running around those girls. If Nico had payed enough attention to Rin’s superpower then they’d need air after some time.

They were on the floor after just some seconds. Rin stopped running and they started breathing heavily, not even able to stand up. One of the smile girls (the one with the ropes) took care of them afterwards. They were a bit nearer the ball and Rin alongside Honoka ran under Kotori. Honoka took Rin and threw her over Kotori. Rin fell on her back and they all fell to the ground. It was awful and Nico felt one of her bones breaking.

“Fuck.” She muttered. Then she looked at Honoka, who looked scared shitless.

“I’m sorry Nico-chan, Kotori-chan! I just… I’m really sorry!” She was about to cry Nico patted her back with the arm she felt she could move.

“That was the best, Honoka.” And then she looked at the Pure ball. With Hanayo tied up and Kotori unconscious (apparently) they just had to get the ball. “Now throw me there. You’ve thrown Rin around enough today. It doesn’t matter if I break another bone, right?” She asked. Honoka nodded and threw her. The last thing Nico saw was her hand catching the ball.

When she woke up with a cast and in the infirmary everyone told her what had happened. She had ‘heroically’ taken the ball and made the smile attribute win for the first time in what seemed to be forever. Her team (Rin an Honoka) had been crowned as the most heroic one and they had won gold medals. She wouldn’t ever forget Honoka and Rin running into the infirmary with those things on their necks. They were so happy she thought her smiles would rip their faces off. Her medal was at the directors office, but she, for once, didn’t really care about that.

 

“It was so cool! And how we made Eli-chan let go of us! Wow, that was the best!” Honoka said, food still in her mouth. Nico glared at her, frowning.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Then she took her drink. “Here’s a toast for you two. You did awfully amazing jobs and it was a real piece of cake to defeat the losers from the other teams. Hella easy. I’m… I’m proud of you two. Don’t make me repeat it, but I really am.” And they hit their drinks in the middle of the table. Honoka and Rin were terribly happy due to her words and she was happy because they were too.

“And a toast to you, Nico-chan!” Honoka said. “For being the best mentor ever!” And now Nico’s eyes were soaked in tears. She tried not to cry and they had the time of their lives there. They were almost kicked out of the place and after dropping Honoka and Rin to their places Nico walked to hers with her hands inside her pockets and a smile on her face. She, for once, felt cool and also proud to be part of the Smile attribute.

 

It was the next day. She ran by Maki when taking her books out of her locker.

“Fair game yesterday, huh?” Nico said. Maki looked away.

“I guess.” She said. Nico chuckled and started walking. Maki followed her.

“Your power is amazing. You must be really proud of it.” Nico said. Maki almost blushed. Nico chuckled again. “There’s nothing wrong with being proud of your power, Maki. And as for what Eli has told me about you you’re not the humble type.” She felt Maki mutter ‘Eli!’ under her breath and smiled. She was dorkier than she had thought. “But then again, it doesn’t matter how good your power is. You still have a long way to go. You cannot just stop breathing fire because someone said you were hot. Your power is strong, but you’re weak.”

“And who the hell you think you are to be saying that stuff?!” Maki had stopped walking and Nico looked back at her. Her hair was burning. Cute.

“The winner of the battle, princess.” She said. Maki walked faster to catch up with her.

“Stop calling me that!” Maki said. And Nico was feeling reckless that day.

“Only if you go to the dance with me.” She said. Maki blushed. Nico smiled. She really felt reckless. What the hell, she thought. Maybe I should just ask her to marry me on the spot.

“What?!” Maki asked. “As if—” Nico interrupted her. She was looking into her eyes but decided to be honest and not use her power. She sighed.

“C’mon. Give me a chance. I can be a cutie if I want, and I’m also the best around here. And you seem to be the best too, Maki. Think about it. Two bests together. We can be the greatest thing the world has ever seen. Use your head, fire-girl.” That was cheesy and made Maki look away.

“I won’t wear a cute dress.” She said after a lot of time remaining silent. “Not a princess-like one.” Nico tried not to jump out of joy.

“You can dress like an ogre for all I care. I’ll still look prettier than you.” She said, walking again.

“Ugh, you idiot!” Maki said. And Nico didn’t need a superpower to realize that was the closest thing to true love any human could experience.

**Author's Note:**

> i may write more about this au, someday. and it'll have umirin! hope yall like this,,, it may be awful but i loved writing it lmao. have a good one, thanks for reading and peace out!


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